The present invention relates to a vehicle seat having a cushion integrated in a seat part and/or a backrest and accommodated by a cushion carrier. The cushion has a ventilation layer, through which air can flow, and an air-permeable cushion cover spanning the cushion surface facing a sitting person. At least one ventilator is arranged on the bottom or backside of the cushion, facing away from the cushion surface, for blowing air into the ventilation layer.
Ventilated vehicle seats of this type are used for improving sitting comfort when a parked vehicle, which has been overheated by extended sun radiation, is entered as well as for longer driving periods.
In a vehicle seat of this type, such as that known from German Patent Document DE 196 28 698 C1, the cushion layer or so-called "ventilation layer", which consists of a wide-meshed spaced knit and through which air can flow, covers the whole surface of a cushion support made of rubberized hair or foam which rests on a cushion carrier, such as a spring core. The cushion layer is covered on its top or front side facing away from the cushion support by an air-permeable pressure distribution layer made of a spaced knit or a nonwoven or open-pore foam. A cushion cover spans the pressure distribution layer, and a cover stuffing is worked in between the cushion cover and the pressure distribution layer. A plurality of electrically driven miniature fans or miniature ventilators, which are inserted into the air ducts worked into the cushion support, are provided for ventilating the ventilation layer. These air ducts are arranged so as to be distributed over the cushion surface.
In a limited area above mouths of the air duct, an air-impermeable intermediate layer, such as a foil, is in each case arranged on the top side of the ventilation layer facing away from the air duct mouth. Consequently, the air blown by the air duct into the ventilation layer is deflected, flows through the ventilation layer, and does not immediately exit through the pressure distribution layer and the cushion cover. The miniature fans take in air from the area of the occupant space situated below the seat part and blow this air into the ventilation layer. In the ventilation layer, the air can spread in all directions. When the seat is unoccupied, the air flows through the pressure distribution layer and the cushion cover into the air space above the seat surface, causing a rapid cooling of the seat surface which is heated, for example, by sun radiation. When the seat is occupied, the air flows along in the ventilation layer and exits again at the open ends of the ventilation layer. In this process, the air generates a temperature and air humidity gradient and discharges the air moistened by the sitting person.
With respect to its manufacturing, such a cushion design is very expensive to manufacture and, therefore, is used only in connection with vehicle seats for vehicles in an upper price class.
It is an object of the invention to provide seat ventilation, in a vehicle seat of the initially mentioned type, at reasonable cost so that the conditioned sitting comfort can be improved in vehicle seats for vehicles of medium and low price classes.
In a vehicle seat of the type mentioned above, this object is achieved according to the invention by forming the ventilation layer as an air-permeable cushion support which rests on the cushion carrier with intermediate placement of an air-impermeable pressure distribution layer. The pressure distribution layer has at least one inflow opening for the ventilation air. The ventilator is arranged on this inflow opening below the pressure distribution layer.
The vehicle seat according to the invention has an advantage in that the cushion support itself is constructed as a cushion layer (ventilation layer) through which air can flow and which, on its supporting side on the cushion carrier, is covered by an air-impermeable pressure distribution layer. As a result, a significantly simpler cushion construction is achieved. The simpler cushion construction, and the reduced number of ventilators required for ventilation (one for the cushion in the seat part and one for the cushion in the backrest), clearly reduce the manufacturing costs. The retained arrangement of at least one ventilator below the cushion, specifically below the pressure distribution layer, and the resulting removal of air from the space below the seat, despite the small ventilator dimensions, permit an air flow rate which is high enough that a heated cushion can be cooled to comfortable temperatures in a short time.
Advantageous embodiments of the vehicle seat according to the invention with expedient developments, and further developments of the invention, are clear from the description which follows.